Dr. Free-Ride: I wanted to ask you guys a question. I think maybe I asked you this question (or something like it) some time ago, but you were a lot younger and, you know, you keep growing and changing and stuff. So the question is, when someone tells you something about science, how can you tell if that person knows what they’re talking about?

Younger offspring: No way.

Dr. Free-Ride: What? What do you mean, “no way”?

Younger offspring: I don’t know.

Dr. Free-Ride: You don’t know how to tell if someone knows what they’re talking about? Like, if a kindergartner told you something about science, how would you evaluate whether they were just … I mean, can you tell when a kinder is just making something up?

Elder offspring: Mmm-hmm. If they’re like, “Uh, science is … uh … science is, uh … science is the stuff that makes a plant gwow into a twee!”

Younger offspring: Ha ha ha!

Dr. Free-Ride: Yeah, OK. I don’t think you should make fun of the way they talk. So, you’re thinking that maybe if they sound uncertain, maybe they don’t know what they’re talking about?

Younger offspring: Yeah.

Dr. Free-Ride: Although some people can make up stories and sound completely sure of themselves? I mean, [Dr. Free-Ride's better half] does that all the time.

Younger offspring: He does! He said that he ate all my candy once.

Dr. Free-Ride: Yeah, exactly!

Younger offspring: He’s mean!

Dr. Free-Ride: But, he also enjoys fooling you. Some people enjoy fooling people. Do you feel like you’re at the mercy of people telling you stuff, and you don’t have a good way to tell whether they really know that they’re talking about?

Younger offspring: Yeah.

Dr. Free-Ride: Are there any people who you sort of trust to know what they’re talking about when they talk about science?

Elder offspring: You.

Dr. Free-Ride: Why me?

Younger offspring: Because you’re older!

Elder offspring: Because you’re a scientist.

Dr. Free-Ride: Well, I’m not working as a scientist.

Elder offspring: Yeah, but you are one.

Dr. Free-Ride: What does that mean that I am one, if I’m not working as one? Can you elaborate on that? Not to say that you’re wrong, but I’m just curious as to what you mean when you say that I’m a scientist. What makes someone a scientist? Is it just a matter of their training, or … ?

Elder offspring: It’s a matter of how much they know about science.

Dr. Free-Ride: OK. And you figure I know stuff about science because i spent so much time in school studying it?

Elder offspring: Yeah.

Dr. Free-Ride: You know, there are some sciences I know hardly anything about at all. There are some sciences where you guys know way more than I do.

Elder offspring: That’s true.

Dr. Free-Ride: So you trust me as a scientific authority. Who else do you trust to know something about science, or at least not to make stuff up?

Elder offspring: Me!

Dr. Free-Ride: Why you?

Younger offspring: Because [elder offspring] is older than me.

Elder offspring: Because I lie badly.

Dr. Free-Ride: Because you don’t lie persuasively? Could it also be because you actually have some good sources of information?

Elder offspring: Yes.

Dr. Free-Ride: Like?

Elder offspring: My science book.

Dr. Free-Ride: What else? I mean, you read more than just your science book. What else do you read for good scientific information?

Elder offspring: Lots of things.

Dr. Free-Ride: There was that fact you were telling me earlier about blue whales being louder than a jackhammer.

Elder offspring: I found that in a puzzle book. They had a bunch of comparison questions — which of two things is higher, or lower, or louder. The answers in the back said a blue whale’s call is louder than a jackhammer.

Dr. Free-Ride: So, assuming that those answers were not just totally fabricated, you’re willing to believe, since they have a real answer section, that the answers are real.

Elder offspring: Yeah.

Dr. Free-Ride: Do you have any strategies for double checking?

Elder offspring: Look it up.

Dr. Free-Ride: Where would you look it up?

Elder offspring: On the internet.

Dr. Free-Ride: On the internet? Do you have a sense of where on the internet you’d find reliable information?

Elder offspring: Wikipedia.

Dr. Free-Ride: You trust the Wikipedia editing? You think by and large they get errors out?

Elder offspring: Mmm-hmm.

Dr. Free-Ride: Are there other sources online that you would trust?

Elder offspring: Google.

Dr. Free-Ride: Google! But Google’s just going to tell you which sites have the most incoming links. Maybe sometimes people link pages to point and laugh, to say, “Isn’t that ridiculous?”

Elder offspring: Hmmm.

Dr. Free-Ride: I know when I’m looking for information on, say, a jellyfish, I look at —

Elder offspring: Jellyfish-dot-com!

Dr. Free-Ride: I don’t, actually. I look at the Monterey Bay Aquarium site, because I know that they would only put up information they thought was reliable because they have a mission to educate, rather than just to entertain.

Elder offspring: I’s also trust the San Francisco Zoo for information about animals and habitats.

Dr. Free-Ride: But would you trust them for information about earthquakes?

Elder offspring: No!

Dr. Free-Ride: Where would you go for information about earthquakes?

Younger offspring: The Earthquake-a-pedia!

Dr. Free-Ride: If only there were such a thing.

Younger offspring: I hope there is! If there isn’t, I want to invent it!

Elder offspring: Or maybe there’s an earthquake museum that would have good information.

Dr. Free-Ride: You guys have never been to the Museum of Jurassic Technology, have you?

Younger offspring: No.

Elder offspring: No.

Dr. Free-Ride: It’s a museum that seems like it’s presenting factual information, but a lot of their exhibits are kind of, um …

Elder offspring: Fake?

Dr. Free-Ride: Yeah, they’re kind of fake. So just having a museum get behind the information is not always enough.

Younger offspring: We have to ask you!

Dr. Free-Ride: Oh gosh, it’s not like I’d never be fooled. Sometimes I get fooled.

Elder offspring: April Fools!

Dr. Free-Ride: Actually, that’s the one day I’m likely not to get fooled, because I’m on my guard now. There was one pretty serious April Fool’s joke that got me back when I was in grad school, and since then I’ve been very very careful about what I believe the first day of April.

Elder offspring: What was it?

Dr. Free-Ride: Oh, it was that Richard Nixon was going to run for President again.

Elder offspring: Oh man!

Dr. Free-Ride: Yeah, exactly. Anyhoo, do you trust your teachers as sources of science information?

Elder offspring: Yes!

Younger offspring: Yes!

Elder offspring: Mine used to just teach science. She had a newt, and silkworms, and fire bellied toads, and a snake and everything!

Dr. Free-Ride: What are you guys learning about in science right now, though?

Elder offspring: Weather.

Dr. Free-Ride: Weather. And that has a lot to do with newts and silkworms and –

Elder offspring: No!

Dr. Free-Ride: Hmm. So there must be more to it than just having science teacher-y stuff around, huh?

Elder offspring: Well, science teachers in elementary school teach three basic things: earth and planetary science, life science, and physical science. My teacher taught all three of those to different grades.

Dr. Free-Ride: And someone taught her the material that she teaches?

Elder offspring: Yes.

Dr. Free-Ride: And someone taught her something about how to teach it?

Elder offspring: Yes.

Dr. Free-Ride: So you trust her.

Elder offspring: Yes!

Dr. Free-Ride: And she probably would admit if she didn’t know the answer to a question, and she would probably have a good idea who to ask or where to look it up, right?

Elder offspring: Right.

Dr. Free-Ride: That’s why I trust her, too. Hey, do you think there’s a good way to protect yourself from being fooled if someone really wants to fool you?

Elder offspring: Yes, look it up.

Younger offspring: Don’t trust anyone.

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A website that has scientific information kids and grown-ups can trust is the Year of Science site. Check it out.